Japan PM Abe says hopes for ‘new era’ in Japan-China relations

OSAKA: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday he wanted to elevate ties with China to create a new era for Asia's biggest economies, and invited President to Xi Jinping to Japan next spring.

"Around the time of the cherry blossoms next spring, I would like to welcome President Xi as a state guest to Japan, and hope to further elevate ties between Japan and China to the next level," Abe told Xi at the outset of a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Osaka, west Japan.

China-Japan ties have long been strained by territorial disputes over a group of tiny East China Sea islets and the legacy of Japan's World War Two aggression. But Tokyo and Beijing have sought to improve relations more recently, with Abe visiting Beijing in October last year when both countries pledged to forge closer ties and signed a broad range of agreements including a currency swap pact.